Thread: Thailand : Inflation surge

Inflation surge
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Prices don't just seem to be going up. The Commerce Ministry announced on Monday that inflation during February was 5.4 per cent - the highest for 20 months.

Food and fuel costs climbed, making it more difficult for the central bank to cut interest rates to spur economic growth, deputy permanent secretary Pairote Sudsawarng told a press conference.

Consumer prices gained 5.4 per cent last month from a year earlier. In January, inflation was a relatively lower 4.3 per cent year on year.

Core inflation, which excludes energy and fresh food prices, rose 1.5 per cent in February compared with the same month in 2007 - up from a 1.2 per cent rise in January.

The Bank of Thailand now faces a difficult choice, as fighting inflation by raising rates would accelerate the appreciation of the baht, which it is trying to resist in order to support exporters, analysts say .

"The central bank wants to cut rates, but they can't because of rising inflation," said Nuchjarin Panarode, an economist at Capital Nomura Securities Pcl, in an interview with Bloomberg news agency.

According to the Commerce Ministry announcement, prices of instant noodles and cooking oil are rising in line with soaring commodities and production costs. Pork prices have climbed 39 per cent since New Year's Day. (BangkokPost.com, Agencies)

bangkokpost.net

I have noticed prices out of control -


In the last few days, I noticed that these items were almost double to what I paid 2 months ago.

1 green pepper 35 baht - that is over a dollar each
butter - 79 baht
cheese is way up there these days
gala apples 35 baht each

gala apples? Are they the ones they sell on the street? The big juicy mothers that were 20 baht each only 12 months ago?

There has never been inflation - neither in Thailand nor in the USA. The prices go up - but to talk about inflation? Inflation is a very bad thing since many slaves stick to it and want to get more and more. So there should not be inflation even if everything gets more and more expensive. My girlfriend still earns the same amount working at City Hall. So there cannot be inflation. Since I have a steady girlfriend I do not know - did the price for erotic services go up? Sure - the price tags in Carrefour, Lotus, 7/11 go up every day. But is this inflation? And if so who cares??? Perhaps it is not the Core Inflation like in the USA. This is the price increase of the toilet flush at the FED. But by reducing the water for this they could fight inflation. So what is this all about?

Slow down a minute John and errr please explain??

^^5555555555

Inflation is the general increase in the price level, salaries and wages are next to go up

With another oil shock, we are back in the 70s guys, isn't that great ?

When you say oil shock, do you mean oil spike?

Originally Posted by MeMock

Slow down a minute John and errr please explain??

Explain the toilet flush or the (pretty new) core rate of the FED or what? Please help me to help!

Lets start at the start: "there has never been inflation"

Oil spike would be oil going to 60, but it's 100 now and could go as far as 120, see how long people will keep their price down when it does. Profit inflation, here it comes.

I see oil never going back down - only up.

120 is just the beginning, we are on the verge of something huge.

Originally Posted by John

nflation is a too bad word because when many people lost everything it was used too much. So the core inflation or even only the core sounds much better. You can define the core freely - not so inflation anymore. And so you can say the prices increased by 10 percent but the core (in my case the costs for the toilet flush at the FED) decreased even by 3 percent. And if you cannot pay for the food anymore (what is not in the core) you use the toilet flush even less. So the core prices will go down!

Cocaine ?

Originally Posted by MeMock

Originally Posted by John

Originally Posted by MeMock

Lets start at the start: "there has never been inflation"

Inflation is a too bad word because when many people lost everything it was used too much. So the core inflation or even only the core sounds much better. You can define the core freely - not so inflation anymore. And so you can say the prices increased by 10 percent but the core (in my case the costs for the toilet flush at the FED) decreased even by 3 percent. And if you cannot pay for the food anymore (what is not in the core) you use the toilet flush even less. So the core prices will go down!

Oh I got ya.

So they are making up all new variations on inflation to show that the inflation isn't inflating.

Am I on the right track?

Be honest now - are you Bernanke posting here or even Greenspan???

Originally Posted by MeMock

I see oil never going back down - only up.

120 is just the beginning, we are on the verge of something huge.

The law of gravity says otherwise, what goes up must go down,

since when has a non renewable resource ever followed the rules of gravity?

I hope they get it under control. Either way its a hit for the tourists and expats with either the baht or prices going up.

So..... if we all go and flush our toilets, everything will be ok?

Originally Posted by Butterfly

The law of gravity says otherwise, what goes up must go down,

In the long run everything goes down one day. Even we.

Yeah only when oil is not needed anymore will it go down, by then it will be to late.

Originally Posted by MeMock

Yeah only when oil is not needed anymore will it go down, by then it will be to late.

Who needs oil? All the variations of our genes survived so many years without it. Some speculators might suffer but the rest? Imagine you walk to a bar and sit with a lady next to a candle. No noise of endless speakers and traffic - just nature. Not endless shortime tourists coming to Thailand. Not so bad for me. Sad that my life might/will end earlier than the oil...

Originally Posted by MeMock

since when has a non renewable resource ever followed the rules of gravity?

When it's dropped out of a plane. I agree though, statements like Butterfly's are one of the reasons why, in civilized countries, economists and financial analysts are strangled at birth

Originally Posted by DrB0b

Originally Posted by MeMock

since when has a non renewable resource ever followed the rules of gravity?

When it's dropped out of a plane. I agree though, statements like Butterfly's are one of the reasons why, in civilized countries, economists and financial analysts are strangled at birth

Often in such cases there follows a hard landing or not?